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Symington Second in Spain

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Sara Symington scored her best result of the season to date at the weekend,finishing second overall to former world champion, Diana Ziliute (Lit) inthe Vuelta Navarra Feminas, a UCI 2.9.2 ranked three-day race, in Spain.Solid support from the rest of the GB Team and a stunning second in theindividual time trial stage, ahead of the legendary Jeannie Longo, ensuredthat the 30 year old from Aylestone in Leicestershire finished only 12seconds down on winner Diana Ziliute. Megan Hughes also signalled a welcomereturn to form after a long period blighted by a knee injury, taking secondin stage 2a.

Phil Jones, Team Manager was particularly pleased with the performances ofthe GB Team on the last day:

„The last stage was a hard day‚s racing for the GB team, as they wereinvolved in four separate crashes. As a result of the first one, MeganHughes’ bike needed a new pedal. Yvonne McGregor and Louise Jones helpedHughes to get back into the race, which was a very difficult task due tosevere crosswinds. The race had split into four groups, but they regainedthe front.‰

„Sara Symington also crashed at about 35km and McGregor and Jones againdropped back to assist and again regained the front group. A group of eight,including Symington, escaped with 10km to go with Diana Ziliute, Team AccaDue, winning the stage and Symington finishing fifth. McGregor still hadenough strength to finish in the next group with Susan Carter, 1’38” down,but the hard work had taken its toll on Hughes and Jones who finished 9’59”and 21’26” down respectively.‰

„Before the last stage, Great Britain were leading the team classificationand Hughes was lying fifth overall. But for the crashes, we had beenconfident of holding on to the lead. As it was, we still finished thirdoverall at 1’59”, which was due to good teamwork by the riders and teammechanic, Ernie Feargrieve.‰

„Sara rode well in all stages – particularly the TT where she surprised manypeople. She defended her second place well, despite that crash on the laststage – a welcome return to form. Megan also rode very well and wouldprobably have held on to her 5th overall if the crash on the last stagehadn’t required the replacement of a pedal. Yvonne McGregor and Louise Jonesboth worked hard for Symington and Hughes, particularly on the last stage.‰

What the riders had to say:Sara Symington“Training has been going well but I needed this result to move me towards mymain goal of the year – the Olympics Games. Before we left for Spain, I didsome work with Ken Matheson (National Road Coach) and it gave me theconfidence I needed. The team worked really hard for me on the last stageand I’d like to thank Yvonne and Louise for getting me back to the frontafter the crash.”

Megan Hughes“I’m just getting back to form after recovering from a leg injury I‚ve hadfor some time. The World Class Performance medical and coaching staff haveput a lot of time in on me and it’s paying off now.”

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